Kohler 14Resa backup gen questions

skipperf · May 2015

Anyone know what a Battry CrLo warning means on my backup gen. Kohler 14RES. Also where is the internal battery charger and any tips on how to test it. My gen battery was almost out of water after only 3 months since last check. I added water but after almost 24 hrs I only show 6.8v. I would like to be able to test the charger before I assume that the battery is toast. Also any guidance on why trying to crank the gen on a weak battery causes the display module to go bad? Noe of these questions can be answered through the manuals. Just to rant for a minute, Kohler has no technical support available. They want you to contact a distributor. I know this brand of gens can be purchased by mail order or at the big box stores. Shame on them!! I live off grid in a rural location in Mx. and so have no local distributor I can contact.

BB. · May 2015

Do you have a link to your hardware/manual? Maybe something like this?

http://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/manuals/LCM%20Installation%20Instructions.pdf

From what I have read (on this forum), many of the backup gensets use a small AC battery charger connected to utility power, but, if you are off grid--Then you have to setup some other genset battery charging system.

And if your system is using a simple AC to DC Battery charger (you have utility power), you want to measure the battery bank voltage a few times over a day or more...

Your Battery wants something in the 14.0 to 14.5 volts charging, but only more minutes or an hour or so (depending on how discharged the starting battery gets)... Then the battery charger should drop down to ~13.4 to 13.6 volts or so. Use a good Digital Volt Meter (known good meter) to see what your battery charging/operational voltages are.

I have seen many of the "cheap"/small AC battery chargers are very poor at doing long term 24x7x365 battery maintenance charging... My in-laws have a car they don't drive much, and I setup a "trickle charger" (said for floating batteries) and found that it still would boil the battery dry after a few months (had this happen on an RV with a different brand/model of maintenance charger--Did the same thing in storage).

In the end, for my in-laws, I shelled out a ~$130 or so for a good quality maintenance charger--And never had a problem ever again with boiling batteries dry. The brand I got was:

http://www.batteryminders.com/models/

They don't appear to make the model I purchased--But if you pick the right model for your needs, I think you will be very happy with it (outside of the purchase price).

If you are off grid--We can talk about other options for keeping your genset battery charged.

Once your battery has lost enough water to "expose" the top of the plates--It is not long for the world. The oxygen in the air corrodes the battery plates.

I am not quite sure what is "going bad" with your display--Are the electronics getting fried, or is the unit getting reset/crashed by low DC battery voltage?

-Bill

Dave Angelini · May 2015

The easy way to test your system is with a good battery. Use a car battery or whatever you can get.Make-up some terminals. Running a generator with a bad battery, or running an ATV with a pull start for any length of time (with a bad battery) can fry the charger and damage other electronics. Batteries fail in different ways and a few of the failure modes can do more damage. Did you talk with Kohler? They do support their product but e-mail is not going to cut it. Good Luck Captain!

Anawa · May 2015

I recently installed a Kohler 8.5 KW. The manual was clear that the battery to the genset required a 120v power supply to keep proper charge on the starting battery. I am off grid also, so you may want to check that 120v from your AC panel is wired the to the Kohler battery charger inside the housing.

Good luck
Paul

inetdog · May 2015

Batt CrLo to me means "Battery Critically Low". In other words, low enough that you cannot expect it to start the generator when needed.
The only way a 12V battery could get down to 6V is if you left a load on it (i.e. generator controls) and did not charge it at all. I think Anawa may have found your problem.

Mangas · May 2015

I posted a thread on this awhile back.

Here is what I use to maintain my CumminsOnan 20 kw genset battery. Fully automatic.

The inverters and genset continually draw a little current which depletes the battery charge if not maintained.

These little guys are great. I installed one on the inside of the genset housing permanently hooked to the battery. Low voltage/generator failed to start alarms solved. Current one is two years old. I keep a spare.

http://www.batterytender.com/Automot...emisphere.html

Anawa · May 2015

Update: After making the above post, I checked the generator stats on the Mate3 and discovered that "exercise" run for the gennie had not been started in about 2 weeks. I switched to a manual start and ..... nothing happened, no noise, no cranking sound. I put the multimeter on my starting battery and found that it read 7.2... about the same as the OP.

Well that was surprise since I could see the AC line for the battery charger was properly connected. I immediately thought I had posted some mis-information on this forum and felt pretty stupid. I put the starting battery on a charger and the next day, everything seemed back to normal, except that nagging question why the discharge on the battery.

Fortunately, my electrician working on the home construction was scheduled to finish up his punch-list this week. I asked him to checkout the generator AC line. He found that it was not active because it was wired to a circuit that was on the ""punchlist" to be connected. The circuit (and the gen) now has AC power.

All is now right with the world in solar land... until the next uh-oh reveals itself.
Paul

BB. · May 2015

I do not trust Lead Acid batteries that have been taken "dead" (especially if the battery is 1+ years old)... If you need the genset/battery to be reliable--I would highly suggest you replace the battery.

-Bill

Dave Angelini · May 2015

inetdog wrote: »

Batt CrLo to me means "Battery Critically Low". In other words, low enough that you cannot expect it to start the generator when needed.
The only way a 12V battery could get down to 6V is if you left a load on it (i.e. generator controls) and did not charge it at all. I think Anawa may have found your problem.

A 12 volt battery can easily get down to 6V without a charger problem or loads. It is a failed battery 99 percent of the time. They do fail even when everything else is correct, and quite often. Vibration is often the root cause followed by temperature cycling. If you get 3 to 5 years on these little 80 AH batteries you are right in the normal for what they are designed for.

Kohler 14Resa backup gen questions

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